Another finish!

I was going to get this done last weekend, but made the mistake of thinking I’d just pull the ragweed out of the asparagus.And this grass that’s going to seed.And…several hours later, one side of the bed is done.And my wrist and shoulder were not up to handling the quilt.I still have one side of the asparagus left to do.And while reading a garden blog, I realized what I should have done with the garden sections I left empty this year – flowers & herbs for butterflies and birds.Oh well, next year, unless my garden mojo returns, which I doubt it will until I retire.

asparagus bed before weeding, in the foreground is an area I did not plant this year – weedy mess! In the back left is a melon DH planted.

Asparagus bed before weeding

asparagus bed after weeding

Now to the important business –

The American Jane Merry-Go-Round hexagon quilt is done done done.The original pattern makes up at 76″ x 83″, and called for 3 jelly rolls.I added 2 columns and 1 row of hexagons and bought 1 or 2 more jelly rolls.I’m not sure why so many largish quilt patterns end up leaving only about 10-12 inches of drop, and that’s for a full size bed.It doesn’t leave much extra for blanket wars.This one was quilted at Fabric Stasher in Tipton.

After taking another look at the stash, I ended up using the yard of Kona Rich Red I had in stash and made bias binding.I had a yellow that matched, but after auditioning, I just liked the red better.And while I’ve liked pieced bindings I’ve seen others use, after pulling out the leftovers, I, well.chickened out, is the best way to put it, I guess.The miters came out OK, but I totally spaced clipping the backing, so it has a few puckers at the inside miters.And when it came time to fold the binding to the back, I started to baste the corners.Then I realized that if I did a neat job of it, no only would it save going back and restitching if, oh who am I kidding, WHEN I missed catching the back, I would not have to go back and restitch the corners, and I would not have to go back and remove the basting.As it was, I had a few spots where the binding didn’t get stitched.Pro tip – when making your continuous bias binding, double and triple check which side of diamond you are making your cuts on.After flipping and turning so much, I ended up cutting 2 strips on straight grain side, not the bias side.OOPS!Fortunately I had a larger piece to be cutting from than was needed, so I still ended up with plenty to spare.